March 19, 2010

"The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach."

-Benjamin Mays

I promised I wouldn't write too many posts on my secular parenting blog about losing weight, but it's been a while. Since I'm stuck at 19 pounds lost, I thought it might help to write about it. I've been at this for 24 weeks now. I went into it committing to make a lifestyle change and improve my health. Obviously that meant losing weight, but I purposely chose to take it slow. Still, my goal is to drop one pound a week, which can be excruciatingly slow when you have so many to lose. It's even more frustrating to be stuck in the same place for five weeks. My best guess for plateauing is that my body has gotten used to my current level of exercise and calorie intake. I'm going to need to change things up if I want to kick-start my metabolism. That's one reason I am considering joining the Y.

I think there are two other contributing factors to my stall. The first is stress. Part of that is the stress of not losing weight (grrr!), and the other part comes from some life stuff right now. The other factor is (and if you don't want to know TMI, best to just skip to the next paragraph) my menstrual cycle has been wonky for the last couple of months. First it was early, now it's really late. No, not *that* kind of late. Just annoyingly absent for no reason. This stresses me out, as well as probably keeps me a couple pounds up because of retaining water.

So as previously mentioned, I'm looking to start exercising, but before I spend any money, I want to be sure I am ready. So I've set the very lofty goal of doing 10 minutes of exercise every day for two weeks. If can't even manage to find the time for that during my day, how can I honestly say I'd be willing to drive to the Y? I guess you'll know how I did in a couple of weeks when I announce (or don't) our new membership.

One other thing I am currently doing to shake things up is eat a little more. I wasn't eating all of my daily calories before, many weeks coming in 1000+ calories under my budget. I wasn't going hungry though. I just didn't eat as much. It didn't seem to help me lose any extra weight, and perhaps I was pushing myself a little too hard. I've been eating all of my calories for the last couple of weeks now, and while I'm still stuck, I'm not gaining. I've also been more hungry lately. (Stop, I know what you are thinking. I am not pregnant. Trust me.)

That's where I am right now. Hopefully, I'll be back on track soon and posting that I've hit my first goal around my birthday. What a wonderful gift that would be! And then a new tattoo! Still haven't figured out what I want to do though. A couple of ideas I have floated around are the number 42, an outline of a pink unicorn, the word atheoi in Greek since I have a Greek theme already, or a teapot. I don't feel particularly in love with any of them though. Maybe that's why I can't drop any more pounds...

Below are some interesting articles I've found over the months from Science Daily about health, weight, and eating.

Negative Phys Ed Teacher Can Cause a Lifetime of Inactivity - I had a terrible P.E. teacher. Dude accused me of cheating. Cheating! How do you cheat in P.E.? Totally embarrassing on top of already being known as the worst athlete in my class. Landed me in detention too. I never connected my loathing of exercise to that, but I like thinking about how I can blame it all on him now. Muhahahahahah

Study Examines Calorie Information From Restaurants, Packaged Foods - This makes me livid. When you are counting on their calorie counts to help you make informed decisions, it's just WRONG for them to give you misinformation. I don't eat out much anymore, but I try to verify everything I eat now. Way to sabotage someone who is working so hard. Just awful.

FDA Might Revise Unrealistic Serving Sizes - Serving sizes are difficult. I've seen it written that people don't understand what one serving of cereal actually looks like, but I don't think it's a matter of understanding. Never in my life did anyone serve me 2/3 a cup of cereal. If no one serves that small an amount of cereal, then why is that the "serving size?" Of course people wouldn't eat it if they saw that a two cup serving had 400 calories! That's an insane thing to have for breakfast, and you should choose a healthier choice. It's not about understanding, it's about being tricked.

3 comments:

Winter is difficult for my weight/fitness goals, too...it's much easier to get out of bed for a pre-dawn run when the temperature isn't below freezing. (Gyms seem to be come-and-go habits for me, but running? We're made for each other!)

The issue of serving sizes and under-reporting calories is distressing. I rely on carb counts to calculate insulin doses and maintain T-Bear's BS levels. If the calories are under-reported, I bet there is a corresponding under-reporting of carbs. That is problematic.

You've done a great job at dropping those lb's. I'm sure exercise will be the element that helps you drop the rest. Keep at it :)

cd- Maybe running and I will get along eventually. I can run in place for the short lap on the Wii (that's 3 minutes) LOL Sad isn't it?

I can't decide if I like that unicorn logo or not. I think I prefer the unicorn shape that is a fading color pink. Although, I've thought about just doing the outline in a darker pink, the invisible part being implied by the lack of coloring in.

Mo- I know! Even more important that they get it right for diabetics. I hope the FDA cracks down on the offenders.